Toy vehicle

ABSTRACT

A toy wheel vehicle designed to be propelled by a child riding the vehicle can be constructed so that the child propels the vehicle by turning its steering wheel. In a toy of this type the steering wheel is secured to a shaft which is coupled to two separate clutch structures by an appropriate means of transferring the rotation of the shaft to the clutches. The clutches are one way clutches designed to transfer either clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation of the steering wheel to an axle on the vehicle secured to at least one propulsion wheel for the vehicle so as to rotate this axle in a single direction.

United States Patent [1 1 Kimura 1 Sept. 2, 1975 [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: Tomy Kogyo Co., Inc., Tokyo,

Japan 221 Filed: June 24, 1974 21 Appl. No.: 482,441

Primary Examiner-Leo Friaglia Attorney, Agent, or FirmEdward D. OBrian 57 ABSTRACT A toy wheel vehicle designed to be propelled by a childriding the vehicle can be constructed so that the child propels thevehicle by turning its steering wheel. In a toy of this type thesteering wheel is secured to a shaft which is coupled to two separateclutch structures by an appropriate means of transferring the rotationof the shaft to the clutches. The clutches are one way clutches designedto transfer either clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation of thesteering wheel to an axle on the vehicle secured to at least onepropulsion wheel for the vehicle so as to rotate this axle in a singledirection.

1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures TOY VEHICLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Theinvention set forth in this specification pertains to toy wheeledvehicles which are adapted to be propelled by the children using thesevehicles.

It will be recognized that many types of toy wheeled vehicles designedto be propelled by the users of such vehicles have been constructed andutilized. A detailed understanding of the present invention does notrequire an understanding of the various differenty types of vehiclescapable of being propelled. Virtually, everyone is familiar with commontoy vehicles of this type such as wagons, scooters, peddle cars and thelike. Although all of such prior toy vehicles are considered to beutilitarian, it is considered that either they are unnecessarily complexand/or that they do not effectively simulate the action in an adultvehicle to the extent necessary for them to have a desired play value.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A broad objective of the present invention isto provide new and improved toy wheeled vehicles which are intended tobe propelled by the users of such vehicles. Another objective of thepresent invention is to provide toy vehicles of this type which arecomparatively simple and which effectively simulate the action of anadult vehicle to an extent necessary for them to have a desired playvalue. Further objectives of the invention are to provide toy vehiclesas described which may be constructed at a comparatively nominal cost,which may be easily and conveniently used, and which are capable ofgiving prolonged, reliable performance.

In accordance with this invention these objectives are achieved in a toywheeled vehicle having an axle, at least one wheel attached to the axle,and a propulsion means for rotating the axle in order to rotate thewheel so as to propel the vehicle by the improvement which comprises:the propulsion means including a shaft mounted on the vehicle, means forrotating the shaft secured to the shaft, two separate one way clutchmeans, each of which has two parts, a first part of each of said clutchmeans being secured to the axle and means for transferring rotation ofthe shaft to the second parts of the clutch means. In a structure asdescribed, the clutch means are operative to transfer rotation of theshaft caused by manipulation of the means for rotating the shaft to theaxle; one of the clutch means being operative to transfer such rotationwhen the shaft is rotated in one direction about its axis; the other ofthe clutch means being operative to transfer such rotation when theshaft is rotated in the other direction about its axis.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention is best more fullydescribed with reference to the remainder of this specification, theappended claims, and the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a presently preferred embodiment orform of a toy wheeled vehicle in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view thereof; and

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view taken at line 33 of FIG. I.

The precise toy wheeled vehicle illustrated is only an embodiment of atoy wheeled vehicle constructed in accordance with principles orconcepts of the invention as set forth and'defined in the appendedclaims. Those familiar with the construction of toys will realize thatthese principles or concepts can be embodied within a multitude ofdifferent toy Wheeled vehicles through the exercise of routine designskill in the toy industry.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The toy wheel vehicle 10 illustrated utilizes a onepiece plastic body 12 which is formed so as to include a simulated seat14 located at its top and extending foot rests 16 for the use of a childsitting upon the seat 14. From this it will be apparent that the body 12is sufficiently rigid so as to be capable of supporting a child. Thebody 12 also includes rear fenders 18 located above rear wheels 20carried by a conventional axle 22. The axle 22 is mounted upon the body12 in a conventional manner. The body 12 also includes a verticallyextending shaft mounting 24 serving as a bearing for a substantiallyvertical drive shaft 26. The upper end of this drive shaft 26 is securedto a simulated steering wheel 28 located in such a position as to becapable of being easily engaged by a child sitting on the seat 14. Afastener 29 is provided upon the simulated steering wheel 28 so as tohold it in place against the shaft mounting 24 as shown in the drawing.

The lower end of the shaft 26 is secured to a crown pin gear 30 which isin constant contact with two other pinion type crown pin gears, 32 and34, respectively. It is noted that the crown pin gear 30 fits againstthe lower end of the shaft mounting 24. These crown gears 32 and 34 aresecured to parts 36 and 38 of clutches 42 and 44. These clutches 42 and44 also include other parts 46 and 48 which are secured to wheels 50.These wheels 50 are in turn secured to a front axle 52. Hence, it may beconsidered that the parts 46 and 48 of the clutches 42 and 44,respectively, are secured to this axle 52. The axle 52 is in turnsupported by bearing openings 54 on the body 12. From the drawing itwill be apparent that the only way that the axle 52 may be located inplace is by temporary distention of the body 12 so as to permit the axle52 to be fitted within the bearing openings 54. Preferably, washers 56are located on the outer sides of the wheels 50 around the axle 52 so asto space each wheel 50 from the interior of the body 12.

The clutches 42 and 44 are one way clutches which are intended totransfer rotation to the axle 52 and the wheels 50 so as to propel thevehicle 10 in a forward direction when the steering wheel 28 is turnedin either direction about the axis of the drive shaft 26. In order toachieve this result the parts 36 and 46 of the clutch 42 and the parts38 and 48 of the clutch 44 are formed so as to have mating surfaces 58shaped as crown ratchet wheels which permit the clutches 42 and 44 to beengaged or disengaged depending upon the direction of rotation of thegear 30. The parts 36 and 38 are normally biased away from one anothertowards the parts 46 and 48, respectively, by means of a small coilspring 60 located about the axle 52.

With this type of structure, when the steering wheel 28 is rotated inone direction such rotation will be transferred through the gears 30,32, and 34 to the parts 36 and 38. This will of course cause appropriaterotation of these parts 36 and 38. Such rotation will promote engagementof the two parts of either the clutch 42 or the clutch 44 and willpromote disengagement of the two parts of the other of these twoclutches. As a result of such engagement the axle 52 and the wheels 50will rotate so as to propel the vehicle forward. When the steering wheel28 is rotated in the other direction through an action as indicated theother of the clutches 42 and 44 will be engaged so as to continue themovement of the vehicle 10 in a forward direction.

It will be realized from this that the toy vehicle 10 involves a uniquemethod of operationmore specifically, a method as described in whichrotation of the steering wheel 28 either clockwise or counterclockwiseabout the axis of the shaft 26 is converted into rotation serving topropel the vehicle 10 in a forward direction. This mode of operation isconsidered to be particularly desirable because children in playing withtoy vehicles frequently desire to simulate adult action by rotating toysteering wheels. This method of propulsion, of course, eliminates theuse of the steering wheel 28 to accomplish a normal steering function.With the toy 10 a child may easily achieve a steering type action byphysically turning the toy vehicle 10 in any desired direction. This isnot considered disadvantageous when the toy 10 is used by comparativelyyoung children.

It will be recognized, however, that the mode of oper ation achieved canbe utilized with a separate, independent steering action. Thus, forexample, it is possible to construct a toy such as the toy 10 with ahollow tubular drive shaft such as the drive shaft 26 located around avertically extending shaft capable of being turned to accomplish asteering function. When an expedient of this type is employed separatemeans are, of course, used to rotate the two concentric shafts.

I claim: 1. A toy wheeled vehicle which includes: a hollow, plasticvehicle body formed so as to include a simulated seat capable of beingoccupied by a child and so as to include a vertically extending shaftmounting serving as a bearing, said body being sufficiently rigid so asto be capable of supporting a child and being temporarily distended,said body including aligned holes for receiving and holding a frontaxle, parallel front and rear horizontal wheel axles spaced from oneanother and mounted on said body adjacent to the bottom thereof, saidfront axle being mounted on said body by being supported within saidaligned holes by temporarily distending said body,

a vertically extending shaft extending through said shaft mounting andextending transverse to and above said front axle,

a horizontally disposed steering wheel detachably secured to said shaftabove said body in engagement with said body at the top of said shaftmounting,

said shaft and said steering wheel being in front of said seat on saidbody,

a crown pin gear means located on the lower end of said shaft fortransmitting rotation, said gear being spaced from said front axle withthe pins thereon extending downwardly and bearing against the lower endof said shaft mounting,

two front wheels secured to said front axle so as to rotate therewith,said front wheels being located on opposite sides of said shaft and saidcrown gear means,

rear wheel means for supporting the rear of said body located on saidrear axle,

a one way clutch means for transferring rotation in one direction aboutan axis associated with each of said front wheels,

each of said clutch means including first and second crown ratchetwheels, said crown ratchet wheels of both of said clutch means beinglocated concentrically about said front axle,

each of said clutch means corresponding to one of said front wheels, thefirst ratchet wheel of each of said clutch means being secured to thefront wheel with which it is associated so as to rotate therewith, thesecond of said ratchet wheels of each of said clutch means being movablealong front axle away from its corresponding first ratchet wheel,

said clutch means being located on the sides of said front wheelsclosest adjacent to said crown gear means,

other pin gear means located on each of said second ratchet wheels fortransmitting rotation,

the pins on both of said other gear means being continuously in contactwith the pins on said crown gear means in order to cause rotation ofsaid second ratchet wheels when said crown gear means is rotated,

a coil spring located around said front axle and bearing against both ofsaid second ratchet wheels so as to tend to bias said second ratchetwheels in engagement with said first ratchet wheels,

said one way clutch means being oriented with respect to said front axleso as to permit said front axle to only turn in one direction as saidsteering wheel is turned in either direction about the axis of saidshaft.

1. A toy wheeled vehicle which includes: a hollow, plastic vehicle bodyformed so as to include a simulated seat capable of being occupied by achild and so as to include a vertically extending shaft mounting servingas a bearing, said body being sufficiently rigid so as to be capable ofsupporting a child and being temporarily distended, said body includingaligned holes for receiving and holding a front axle, parallel front andrear horizontal wheel axles spaced from one another and mounted on saidbody adjacent to the bottom thereof, said front axle being mounted onsaid body by being supported within said aligned holes by temporarilydistending said body, a vertically extending shaft extending throughsaid shaft mounting and extending transverse to and above said frontaxle, a horizontally disposed steering wheel detachably secured to saidshaft above said body in engagement with said body at the top of saidshaft mounting, said shaft and said steering wheel being in front ofsaid seat on said body, a crown pin gear means located on the lower endof said shaft for transmitting rotation, said gear being spaced fromsaid front axle with the pins thereon extending downwardly and bearingagainst the lower end of said shaft mounting, two front wheels securedto said front axle so as to rotate therewith, said front wheels beinglocated on opposite sides of said shaft and said crown gear means, rearwheel means for supporting the rear of said body located on said rearaxle, a one way clutch means for transferring rotation in one directionabout an axis associated with each of said front wheels, each of saidclutch means including first and second crown ratchet wheels, said crownratchet wheels of both of said clutch means being located concentricallyabout said front axle, each of said clutch means corresponding to one ofsaid front wheels, the first ratchet wheel of each of said clutch meansbeing secured to the front wheel with which it is associated so as torotate therewith, the second of said ratchet wheels of each of saidclutch means being movable along front axle away from its correspondingfirst ratchet wheel, said clutch means being located on the sides ofsaid front wheels closest adjacent to said crown gear means, other pingear means located on each of said second ratchet wheels fortransmitting rotation, the pins on both of said other gear means beingcontinuously in contact with the pins on said crown gEar means in orderto cause rotation of said second ratchet wheels when said crown gearmeans is rotated, a coil spring located around said front axle andbearing against both of said second ratchet wheels so as to tend to biassaid second ratchet wheels in engagement with said first ratchet wheels,said one way clutch means being oriented with respect to said front axleso as to permit said front axle to only turn in one direction as saidsteering wheel is turned in either direction about the axis of saidshaft.